Some Little Known Facts About JK Rowling

Today just happens to be the birthday of one very special writer, at least in my mind. Happy birthday JK Rowling. To help celebrate, here’s some facts you may not have known about the author.

Her favorite author of all time is Jane Austen. She once said that she has read her books so many times, she’s lost count. However, we can see the influence in her series with her deep characters and surprise endings.

Rowling is a big fan of Harry Potter websites and often visits them. She once went on the widely popular Mugglenet and got told to be quiet from regulars because she didn’t know enough about Harry Potter.

She has some very famous fans. In fact, before the seventh book was released she was begged by Stephan King and John Irving not to kill off Harry Potter. Now that’s a fan base!

Pretty much everyone knows that her story is a classic rags to riches tale. Did you know, though, that she started Harry Potter on napkins while traveling by train? She also completed the original full length manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on a manual typewriter.

Twelve publishing houses rejected Harry Potter. It took a small virtually unknown publisher, Bloomsbury, to take a chance on Rowling. The gentleman who decided to give the book a chance had taken the manuscript home and ended up having to fight his children just for the chance to read it!

Rowling insisted that all British actors be used for the films and I believe it gave it a true authenticity, no fake accents there! However, did you know that Alan Rickman knew the entire story and ending before he even started? She wanted Snape to be played correctly and in order to get the effect she desired she divulged it all to him. Kudos to Rickman for never letting anything slip!

Despite having enough money to last a lifetime and then some, Rowling and her husband refuse to quit working. They believe that continuing to work sets a good example for their children.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is a world record setter. In fact it is in the Guinness Book of World Records. It sold more copies in 24 hours than The DaVinci Code sold all year!

There are many things about Rowling that I personally adore but probably the single biggest thing to me is how involved in charities she is. In fact, she is noted for her philantropic work almost as much as she is the Potter series. Over the years, she has supported Amnesty International, Gingerbread, Lumos, Multiple Sclerosis Society, Volant, Comic Relief, The Maggie’s Centres for Cancer Care, UK Labour Party, and Doctors Without Borders. She also donated 10 million pounds for the foundation of a new clinic at the University of Edinburgh. The Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic will conduct major research into neuroregeneration and support patients with multiple sclerosis and other diseases. The center is named for her mother who passed away from multiple sclerosis at the age of 45. For more information or how you can support these same causes, please vist JK Rowling’s personal site: http://www.jkrowling.com/en_GB/#/about-jk-rowling/charities/